MCI, AT&T Heat Up Hot-Spot Access

MCI and AT&T this month made headway on their public Internet access strategies.

MCI and AT&T this month made headway on their public Internet access strategies.
This month, MCI will start offering WLAN (wireless LAN) and broadband Internet access services to current corporate long-distance customers, said officials. Via a roaming deal with Wayport, MCI customers will be able to use WLANs to reach their corporate VPNs (virtual private networks) from more than 600 U.S. locations, including hotels, airports and a handful of McDonalds restaurants in California.

MCI customers will receive Wi-Fi charges on their monthly statements.

AT&T, meanwhile, plans to offer wireless access to its VPN services from more than 2,000 locations by the end of the year, said officials. The service will run via a deal with GRIC Communications, the company that already manages AT&Ts remote dial-up Internet services.